Subscribe

Who has fought the best? Oscar De La Hoya or Felix Trinidad?

In his career, Oscar De La Hoya (a 1992 Olympian) has reached a level of popularity and fame that many other fighters dream of. The fact that Oscar represented the Mexicans fairly well during the down fall of Mexico’s Champ Julio Cesar Chavez is what drove him to his idol like stature. It took Oscar years to reach his Plato, but with the help of Top Rank and his new growing company Golden Boy Promotions Oscar has lived up to his name as “The Golden Boy”, raking in a total of 594.3 Million dollars in PPV Buys as a boxer. Oscar has won championships in every division he’s competed in, Jr. Lightweight, Lightweight, Jr. Welterweight, Welterweight, Jr. Middleweight and Middleweight. Even though Oscar was a great talent he seemed to many to chose fighters that were not exactly at the peak of their boxing career’s, many questioned Oscar’s desire to take on a real challenge in a youthful boxer that posed a threat. For me (and many other Mexican’s) the downfall of Oscar’s popularity with the Mexican population came the day that he humiliated the great Julio Cesar Chavez on June 7th 1996. I am completely convinced that if Oscar had chose (or was able) to fight Chavez 4-5 years earlier, the fight could have possibly played out completely different, the only problem being that 4-5 years earlier Oscar was barley beginning his boxing career and Chavez was already a veteran. Regardless of whether Oscar took on the best that the sport had to give, he was still great at what he did, he used his jab effectively and was born with an incredible left hook that would take the starch out of any fighter. Below is a list of fighters that Oscar beat that were known as the “elite” of his era.

Oscar De La Hoya 38 Wins 30 Ko’s and 5 Losses

Jorge Paez

John John Molina

Rafael Ruelas

Genaro Hernandez

Jesse James Leija

Julio Cesar Chavez

Pernell Whitaker

Hector Camacho

Ike Quartey

Oba Carr

Felix Trinidad (lost)

Shane Mosley (lost)

Arturo Gatti

Javier Castillejo

Fernando Vargas

Luis Ramon Campas

Bernard Hopkins (lost)

Ricardo Mayorga

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (lost)

Felix Tito Trinidad, was regarded as a special lights out puncher with a unique style and the guts to fight anyone anywhere. During his career, Tito became Puerto Rican Sensation, he was loved and considered an Idol by his entire country. He had thousands of die hard fans who would fill the streets of Puerto Rico upon his return home from winning world class bouts. Felix Trinidad fought everyone and anyone, he always won, and mostly by knockout because of his devastating power that he carried with him through his entire career. Tito was a big guy, he started his career in the 140lb weight division, he was usually much bigger than his opponents standing 5′ 11″ was at that time considered big in any of the lower weight classes. Tito was known for taking on the biggest challenges out there, he was the first to stop and beat Yory Boy Campas in a slug-fest that ended in round 4 with Campas out on his feet, he beat a prime Fernando Vargas, and many other fighters who were willing to risk their careers by stepping in the ring with the heavy handed Trinidad. Although Tito was not know as a slick boxer with quick feet, he was willing to take punches to give punches because he had so much confidence in his power, and his power would always pull him through. I never seen Tito take on a challenge too large, his guts showed up ironically when he was completely out classed in his middle weight fight against Bernard Hopkins. No one ever doubted Tito’s heart, he would usually be dropped early in his fights, but would always get up to win, and he would always put on his best performance time and time again. He is a proud fighter, and represents the sport well and has carried the weight of an entire country for years. Felix never had the opportunity to fight any of the fighters that Oscar had faced, due to the fact that Tito never competed at any weight class lower then 140.Below is a list of fighters that Tito beat that were known as the “elite” of his era.

Felix Tito Trinidad 42 Wins 35 Ko’s and 2 losses

Maurice Blocker

Hector Camacho

Luis Ramon Campas

Oba Carr

Pernell Whitaker

Oscar De La Hoya

Fernando Vargas

William Joppy

Bernard Hopkins (lost)

Ricardo Mayorga

Winky Wright (lost)

And on January 19th 2008, Felix Trinidad will fight Roy Jones Jr. at a contracted weight of 170lbs

After doing my own research, and watching these two guys fight each other and other opponents. I come to the conclusion that Tito fought the better quality opponents, every fighter that these two have in common, Felix was the one to fight them first, about 2-3 years before Oscar. Tito has a better record (overall), and a much better KO % over Oscar, but Oscar has done a great job to pick his opponents that would suit him the best and bring out the best in him. Felix Trinidad has took on anyone that was put in-front of him, money was never an issue, it was about a place in history and his place amongst the best fighters in boxing. In my opinion Oscar has been out for the money for years, only a few fights come to mind where it was pride over anything, his fight with Quartey and Vargas were the ones that made him turn from a boxer to a fighter. I usually enjoy watching either of these two guys fight, just as much as anyone, but Tito has fulfilled my expectations the best. Its up to you determine who’s your favorite, and stick by them, use your head and not your heart. Boxing can give you everything you need.

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

This entry was posted on September 6, 2007 at 3:08 and is filed under Thoughts.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.